With only five sleeps left until our trip to Ghana, we are all getting very excited now! All thirteen of us are gathering the kit we will be taking with us, as well as resources which we will take to the orphanage in Kumasi, such as exercise books, coloured card, poster paint, sports equipment, balloons and much more! Also this week we have all received our team kit, which consists of a very smart lime green polo shirt, a dark green vest top, and a purple hoodie, all of which have our team badge and names on. We will wear the polo shirts to travel in on Sunday, so if you happen to see 13 people all dressed in lime green on the way to the airport, that'll be us!
As we make our final preparations, we have also been finding out more about Ghana and some things we might experience while we are there. Cara has been speaking to the retired archbishop of Ghana's wife who passed on some helpful tips, such as buying a Ghanaian sim card to contact the UK, trying to get some traditional clothes made for us while we are there, being aware of hygiene (e.g. not eating salad or fruit which could have been washed in dirty water), and being prepared to see poverty in the streets.
Emily also found an interesting blog written by someone who is currently visiting Ghana to teach. The writer mentioned a number of things which she found particularly different or interesting on arriving in Ghana, and it certainly sounds like Ghana will be a very new experience and culture for us all!
Claire
Thursday, 25 July 2013
Sunday, 14 July 2013
Nearly there....
It's so exciting to think that in 3 weeks time we will be in Ghana- time seems to have flown by, and in 11 days we will be setting of down to Gatwick to take our flight to Accra.
Amongst the GCSE and A Levels exams and university open days, we have all been getting ready to set off- including having yet more injections, and buying all the kit that we will need out there. We have all sent off for visa's to allow us to enter the country (which I'm sure will feature the flattering passport photos we sent off!), and now it's the final wait before our African adventure begins.
I am so excited about meeting the local people that we will come across on our travels, especially the Guides and children at the children's home in Kumasi. More equipment has been gathered and donated, which will be wonderful to take out! I keep trying to imagine what it will be like in a country so different to our own- pretty amazing I'm guessing :)
Our team badges have arrived- they are adorable featuring an elephant, as well as the Ghanaian and British flags. Team kit should be with us soon- it's all so exciting!
It will be fantastic to be underway, and finally have Team Ghana together- and I'm sure we'll get to know each other even better after 2 weeks of each other's company!
Nanteyie! (Akan for goodbye)
Laura
Amongst the GCSE and A Levels exams and university open days, we have all been getting ready to set off- including having yet more injections, and buying all the kit that we will need out there. We have all sent off for visa's to allow us to enter the country (which I'm sure will feature the flattering passport photos we sent off!), and now it's the final wait before our African adventure begins.
I am so excited about meeting the local people that we will come across on our travels, especially the Guides and children at the children's home in Kumasi. More equipment has been gathered and donated, which will be wonderful to take out! I keep trying to imagine what it will be like in a country so different to our own- pretty amazing I'm guessing :)
Our team badges have arrived- they are adorable featuring an elephant, as well as the Ghanaian and British flags. Team kit should be with us soon- it's all so exciting!
It will be fantastic to be underway, and finally have Team Ghana together- and I'm sure we'll get to know each other even better after 2 weeks of each other's company!
Nanteyie! (Akan for goodbye)
Laura
Saturday, 8 June 2013
Last meeting
This weekend we met at the new region HQ in Preston, which is much more impressive than the old one! This was our final meeting before we go to Ghana, so we had a lot to prepare and finalise, including spending time eating cake in celebration of Emily's birthday! And the sun made it a better day as we were able to sit outside for lunch and soak up the rays! :) We needed a lot of sun preparation before we go, so it gave us a head start on our tans...
Unfortunately we still weren't a full team, as Leah was missing, so the first time we will be all together will be on our way to London, which brings us onto our first topic of discussion for our meeting today. We have decided to meet at region HQ in Preston rather than the airport, so we can all travel down together. Becky has booked a minibus and driver for all of us, so the wheels on the bus will go round and round!
We received our final kit list and itinerary so we are now looking forward to our shopping trips! As recommended by the orphanage, our accommodation arrangements for the time we will spend in Kumasi have changed. We will now be staying at the Mount Olive Retreat Centre. Besides this we also know where we will be staying on our return from Kumasi in Cape Coast, called Baoboe, where we will also be able to take part in a cultural workshop, for example drumming. Also at Baoboe, there is a shop where local people sell their crafts so this will be a good opportunity for some retail therapy!
We gathered all our equipment donated or collected from across the region. These include more pencils, parachute (signed by Endmoor Brownies), foam fish stickers, hand sanitiser and colouring books. Also donated was a twister mat, which we plan to play at the airport on our long wait. We also sorted what we still need to collect, so we leave the meeting with items to find!
The excitement is building, and we all can't wait to go!
Claire and Rebecca
Unfortunately we still weren't a full team, as Leah was missing, so the first time we will be all together will be on our way to London, which brings us onto our first topic of discussion for our meeting today. We have decided to meet at region HQ in Preston rather than the airport, so we can all travel down together. Becky has booked a minibus and driver for all of us, so the wheels on the bus will go round and round!
We received our final kit list and itinerary so we are now looking forward to our shopping trips! As recommended by the orphanage, our accommodation arrangements for the time we will spend in Kumasi have changed. We will now be staying at the Mount Olive Retreat Centre. Besides this we also know where we will be staying on our return from Kumasi in Cape Coast, called Baoboe, where we will also be able to take part in a cultural workshop, for example drumming. Also at Baoboe, there is a shop where local people sell their crafts so this will be a good opportunity for some retail therapy!
We gathered all our equipment donated or collected from across the region. These include more pencils, parachute (signed by Endmoor Brownies), foam fish stickers, hand sanitiser and colouring books. Also donated was a twister mat, which we plan to play at the airport on our long wait. We also sorted what we still need to collect, so we leave the meeting with items to find!
The excitement is building, and we all can't wait to go!
Claire and Rebecca
Sunday, 21 April 2013
From Garstang to Ghana...
Hey there! Leah and Ellie here with our weekend update:
Emily is now officially integrated into Family Ghana. We're having a great and silly time planning our trip on our briefing weekend, not only have we come up with loads of amazing ideas but we've tested some out too. The photos are to follow as we most definitely had to take advantage of some English sun by playing games (duck, duck, goose; stuck in the mud; ladders, traffic lights) and singing some songs (Quartermaster's stores; have you ever had a penguin come to tea and others). We carried on the singing in the kitchen too while washing up which ended up becoming a cheesy song session with plenty of dancing, party songs and the Spice Girls.
We started our meeting with a special guest, Sue who has lived in the North of Ghana working at a secondary school and has travelled to Kumasi and Accra. She brought along with her a road map of Ghana which we found very useful to plan our journeys between Accra, Kumasi and Cape Coast. She also brought photo albums of time at school and of the places where we might want to visit. She also answered some of our questions we had that we wouldn't have known otherwise, like our worries on food and transport and cultural aspects of Ghanaian life.
In a more serious manner, we have decided the itinerary for when we're at the orphanage in Kumasi. We have decided on the first day to have lots of fun and meet and greet the children to help us understand what they already know and what games and plans we may need to alter that Thursday night. We've also decided to have a day dedicated to the Olympics and sport as well as a cultural exchange, sharing some of our interests such as food, fashion, music etc.
On a touristic level, we've discussed what we'd like to do and places we'd like to visit when we're not in Kumasi. This is a draft of our itinerary;
Sunday- GirlGuiding NWE set off!! Destination: Accra via Gatwick and Casablana.
Monday - 5am- Land in Accra!
-Guided Tour around the capital.
- Visit a place of interest we've seen on our tour or a cultural workshop
Tuesday- Undecided
Wednesday - Take the STC to Kumasi, maybe visiting the botanical gardens and a cocoa research plant on the way. Check in at the guesthouse.
Thursday- Orphanage meet and greet.
Sunday- Possibly attending a church service
Wednesday- leave Kumasi. Visit Kakum National Park. Go to Cape Coast.
Thursday- Visit the castle in Cape Coast that shows the history of slavery
- Go to a cultural workshop in Cape Coast.
- Travel back to Accra
Friday- Maybe shopping and/or workshops in Accra and seeing something at the National Theatre in the evening.
Saturday- Leave Accra and say goodbyes to Ghana to head home with all our stories to share :)
This is just a draft plan, more details are to be decided :D
What we can say is this... We're so excited now plans are being put into place!! :D
Emily is now officially integrated into Family Ghana. We're having a great and silly time planning our trip on our briefing weekend, not only have we come up with loads of amazing ideas but we've tested some out too. The photos are to follow as we most definitely had to take advantage of some English sun by playing games (duck, duck, goose; stuck in the mud; ladders, traffic lights) and singing some songs (Quartermaster's stores; have you ever had a penguin come to tea and others). We carried on the singing in the kitchen too while washing up which ended up becoming a cheesy song session with plenty of dancing, party songs and the Spice Girls.
We started our meeting with a special guest, Sue who has lived in the North of Ghana working at a secondary school and has travelled to Kumasi and Accra. She brought along with her a road map of Ghana which we found very useful to plan our journeys between Accra, Kumasi and Cape Coast. She also brought photo albums of time at school and of the places where we might want to visit. She also answered some of our questions we had that we wouldn't have known otherwise, like our worries on food and transport and cultural aspects of Ghanaian life.
In a more serious manner, we have decided the itinerary for when we're at the orphanage in Kumasi. We have decided on the first day to have lots of fun and meet and greet the children to help us understand what they already know and what games and plans we may need to alter that Thursday night. We've also decided to have a day dedicated to the Olympics and sport as well as a cultural exchange, sharing some of our interests such as food, fashion, music etc.
On a touristic level, we've discussed what we'd like to do and places we'd like to visit when we're not in Kumasi. This is a draft of our itinerary;
Sunday- GirlGuiding NWE set off!! Destination: Accra via Gatwick and Casablana.
Monday - 5am- Land in Accra!
-Guided Tour around the capital.
- Visit a place of interest we've seen on our tour or a cultural workshop
Tuesday- Undecided
Wednesday - Take the STC to Kumasi, maybe visiting the botanical gardens and a cocoa research plant on the way. Check in at the guesthouse.
Thursday- Orphanage meet and greet.
Sunday- Possibly attending a church service
Wednesday- leave Kumasi. Visit Kakum National Park. Go to Cape Coast.
Thursday- Visit the castle in Cape Coast that shows the history of slavery
- Go to a cultural workshop in Cape Coast.
- Travel back to Accra
Friday- Maybe shopping and/or workshops in Accra and seeing something at the National Theatre in the evening.
Saturday- Leave Accra and say goodbyes to Ghana to head home with all our stories to share :)
This is just a draft plan, more details are to be decided :D
What we can say is this... We're so excited now plans are being put into place!! :D
Sunday, 14 April 2013
Update from Claire
This weekend, Team Ghana (or, ‘Family Ghana’, as we have become accustomed to calling ourselves) will be meeting up again for another briefing weekend, but just because we haven’t seen each other since February doesn’t mean that we have forgotten about our trip in the meantime!
We have welcomed a new team member, Emily, who will be the third leader for our trip. Emily is an assistant leader of a Brownie Unit who is training to become a Primary Teacher, and she loves travelling. We are looking forward to meeting her this Saturday.
There have been a number of exciting updates about the trip itself, most importantly, the flights have been booked! We will fly from Gatwick to Casablanca, then on to Accra. The first flight will take 3 hours and 15 minutes and the second will take 4 hours and 25 minutes.
We have all been turning into human pin cushions as there are lots of vaccinations recommended for travel to Ghana. The most important is yellow fever, as without a yellow fever certificate you are not allowed into the country. The recommended inoculations include Hepatitis A and B and rabies. For protection against cholera, rather than an injection, the vaccination needs to be drunk (apparently, it tastes horrible!).
We are all looking forward to the project work at the King Jesus Charity Home, and in preparation for working with the children there we will all be organising activities for our Guides, Brownies and Rainbows to get used to managing groups and to check if our ideas will work. In addition, we are beginning to collect some items to take with us when we go. Laura wrote to the Derwent pencil company, who donated a huge box of pencils. Her Brownie unit have also said that they would like to buy a parachute and book of parachute games for the children at the orphanage. Also, a lady in Nat’s village has given Nat some knitted soldiers in their bearskin hats – very British looking and very cute – which we will also take to Ghana with us.
So, with the briefing weekend coming up we all look forward to seeing each other again, coming up with more ideas and planning the trip together.
Claire
Sunday, 3 February 2013
2nd-3rd Feb briefing
This weekend we had our first overnight get together in order to plan for Ghana, and to get to know each other better, in Preston. We arrived, and started off discussing fundraising (we all seem to be doing well!!), and then started on some silly games, and made our own coats of armour.
We spent a long time discussing our plans for our trip to Ghana, especially planning our week of volunteering. It was very exciting, as it now seems to really be happening!
We are going to spent 2 weeks in Ghana. On landing in Accra, Ghana's capital we will be spending nights at the Ghana Girlguiding centre, and will hopefully meet some Ghanaian Guides and Brownies. We are going to spend time exploring the city- visiting markets, and possibly partaking in a drumming workshop. Accra is s...uch a different place to the UK- we probably couldn't be more immersed in a different culture.
We are then going to drive to Kumasi, north of Accra- possibly stopping off to explore the tropical rainforest on a high walk way! We will stay here for a week, and will have the amazing opportunity to work in an orphanage, educating the children about health, hygiene and basic first aid, as well as organising lots of fun activities, including a mini-Olympics. We will also have the opportunity to explore Kumasi.
We will head south again afterwards, and have the chance to visit a slave castle, beaches, markets in Accra or might pay a visit to Cape Coast.
We spent a lot of time planning activities to do with the children, as well as brainstorming songs and games to teach them. We also made friendship bracelets to give to the Guides in Accra.
We had a really fun evening, going out for dinner, and ended up plaiting Ellie's immensely long hair, and doing Yoga in Leah and Nat's room!
This morning we emailed Pastor Kofi, who runs the orphanage, letting him know our plans and also wrote our group charter. We also wrote and briefed our parents of our exciting trip.
The weekend was really good fun, and was a great way to get to know everyone better- and we have become 'Family Ghana'! Now it's just over 6 months until our exciting adventure begins!
Laura
We spent a long time discussing our plans for our trip to Ghana, especially planning our week of volunteering. It was very exciting, as it now seems to really be happening!
We are going to spent 2 weeks in Ghana. On landing in Accra, Ghana's capital we will be spending nights at the Ghana Girlguiding centre, and will hopefully meet some Ghanaian Guides and Brownies. We are going to spend time exploring the city- visiting markets, and possibly partaking in a drumming workshop. Accra is s...uch a different place to the UK- we probably couldn't be more immersed in a different culture.
We are then going to drive to Kumasi, north of Accra- possibly stopping off to explore the tropical rainforest on a high walk way! We will stay here for a week, and will have the amazing opportunity to work in an orphanage, educating the children about health, hygiene and basic first aid, as well as organising lots of fun activities, including a mini-Olympics. We will also have the opportunity to explore Kumasi.
We will head south again afterwards, and have the chance to visit a slave castle, beaches, markets in Accra or might pay a visit to Cape Coast.
We spent a lot of time planning activities to do with the children, as well as brainstorming songs and games to teach them. We also made friendship bracelets to give to the Guides in Accra.
We had a really fun evening, going out for dinner, and ended up plaiting Ellie's immensely long hair, and doing Yoga in Leah and Nat's room!
This morning we emailed Pastor Kofi, who runs the orphanage, letting him know our plans and also wrote our group charter. We also wrote and briefed our parents of our exciting trip.
The weekend was really good fun, and was a great way to get to know everyone better- and we have become 'Family Ghana'! Now it's just over 6 months until our exciting adventure begins!
Laura
Saturday, 8 December 2012
Second Meet..
After an intresting start looking at everybody's presentations, we made a plan for the meeting! We decided to make a quiz to help with everbody's fundraising, write a letter template to give us a good idea of how to start writing to different companies and decide on kit colour (which is still in process!) and badge design.
We discussed some potential dates for the trip. End of July to the beggining of August seemed highly likely. Beckie told us that we will be staying at the Girlguiding training centre in Accra, and we might be able to meet some Scotish Senior Section members who travle to Ghana every 2 years! This will be useful as they can help us acclimatize.
We talked about what we would be doing out there, the presentations that the team gave really helped us see what there was out there that we could do. we are thinking of working with guides in Ghana to give workshops, possibly about personal hygiene this will give them a variaty from craft and games.
We then set about looking at possible colours for our team kit, designing the badge. We havn't yet made a decision but the favourite colours seem to be pink, green and purple.
You can see are ideas for the badge below.
Nat & Claire
We discussed some potential dates for the trip. End of July to the beggining of August seemed highly likely. Beckie told us that we will be staying at the Girlguiding training centre in Accra, and we might be able to meet some Scotish Senior Section members who travle to Ghana every 2 years! This will be useful as they can help us acclimatize.
We talked about what we would be doing out there, the presentations that the team gave really helped us see what there was out there that we could do. we are thinking of working with guides in Ghana to give workshops, possibly about personal hygiene this will give them a variaty from craft and games.
We then set about looking at possible colours for our team kit, designing the badge. We havn't yet made a decision but the favourite colours seem to be pink, green and purple.
You can see are ideas for the badge below.
Nat & Claire
Saturday, 27 October 2012
Tuesday, 16 October 2012
Welcome
Hi, we are a group of 13 Girlguiding UK members who have been selected to take part in the North West region trip to Ghana in 2013. The group consists of 3 leaders and 10 girls (introductions to follow).
Keep up-to-date with our blog to find out more about the planning of our trip and how our fundraising is going.
Keep up-to-date with our blog to find out more about the planning of our trip and how our fundraising is going.
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